November 15, 2006

I'm just back from a teeny, tiny tour promoting my new book "Talking with My Mouth Full" and have confirmed what I thought to be true -- food connects everything. Food is the connective tissue for time, space, memory, family and friends. After I read stories from the book, people would respond with stories of their own, recipes from their great-aunt's first cousin, apocryphal tales. One of my favorites was from a woman in Minneapolis who emailed me after reading the book:

I volunteered at a home hospice where we used the kitchen as our greatest tool for counseling and comfort. Every day we would bake and cook family style meals. We basically never stopped cooking. Family and any patient able would wander in and out of the kitchen sharing stories, recipes, tears and lots of laughs. One patient who came in with little time left had only one request. He was unable to eat but wanted liver and onions one more time. We fried a big pan of liver and onions, put it on a plate and put it in front of him to smell and admire. We even cut up a tiny piece for him to savor on his tongue, though he no longer was able to swallow anything. His smile as he closed his eyes and savored the smell and taste is one of my memorable moments there.

November 01, 2006

Pomegranates are the new "it" fruit. They're in salsas, sodas, vingegar, gummy bears and ice cream You can even eat them straight. While Middle Easterners have recognized the many glories of the orange-sized jewel-seeded fruit, the West has been slow to follow.

Then the scientific studies rolled in showing pomegranates may help with heart disease, cancer, aging problems AND is good for your skin. Move over green tea and red wine. Pomegranates have even more antioxidants.

October 29, 2006

My book, Talking with My Mouth Full, is coming out this week and made its media debut this morning on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday. Last week, Weekend Edition Sunday host Liane Hansen and I took a walk through Washington, D.C.'s historic Eastern Market visiting with vendors and talking about food. The result is at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6395236

This is exactly like giving birth except not quite as painful.

I begin a teeny, tiny book tour this Friday with stops in Chicago and Minneapolis. Details are on my website at www.bonnywolf.com If you see this and are in either city, please stop in.

October 27, 2006

Last weekend, after a spectacular wedding, I had the bride and groom and about 70 of the wedding guests for breakfast. I live in a rowhouse on Capitol HIll in Washington, DC. It's a decent size as these things go but this was a lot of people. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and we could extend to our tiny back courtyard.

So, what to serve?

Both the bride and groom lived for a time in Latin America, They speak fluent Spanish. The theme was obvious. It was finding the time that was a problem. Then it came to me. I didn't HAVE to cook everything. This was new and difficult to assimilate. There were the usual stages --uncertainty, guilt and, finally, relief.

I have a Salvadoran friend who made pupusas (that morning at 4 I learned later). I bought 3 varieties of empanadillas (tiny empanadas) from an empanada shop. I got desserts from a wonderful new baker in the DC area. (www.shoeboxoven.com). She made caneles of Mexican chocolate spiked with a little chili pepper, hazelnut cookies drizzled with caramel and little bread balls with cheese and guava. Two friends and I made 2 different breakfast casseroles: one with chili and cheese and the other with sausage. I arranged a huge platter of tropical fruit: papaya, mango, melon, pineapple, strawberries. I put out a bowl of guava candies.

October 12, 2006

To you stalwart visitors, my apologies for a long absence. I have a book coming out Nov. 1 and it has largely eaten my life. The book is called "Talking with My Mouth Full" (hence the blog's name change). AND I have a new website www.bonnywolf.com with information about the book, events, etc. In the last few months, I have begun editing "The Kitchen Window" NPR's weekly online food column. Check it out at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4578972. And if there are any writers out there who have a story idea, please contact us.

Since we last met, I had a 95th birthday party for my dad. I had 55 people to dinner in my Washington, DC, 19th century townhouse. Quite a challenge. My dad served as a foot soldier in Italy for 3 years during World War II and came away with a love for Italian food and song. So I put out a huge antipasto buffet, anchored by turkey tonnato -- a variation of vitello tonnato, a dish Marcella Hazan calls "as versatile as it is lovely." Everyone wanted the recipe so I offer it to you below. I had platters of sliced salamis, mozzarella balls in oil, marinated mushrooms, marinated artichoke hearts (Costco); olive salad, peppers stuffed with prosciutto, pepperoncini, roasted peppers, giardiniera (neighborhood Italian market) and roasted vegetables and marinated carrots that I made. Huge success. I hired a senior from the DC arts high school to sing Italian arias. My dad was very happy.

3 tablespoons capers, soaked and rinsed if packed in salt, drained if in vinegar

Suggested Garnish

Thin slices of lemon

Pitted black olives cut into narrow wedges

Whole capers

Whole parsley leaves

Anchovy fillets

In a pot just large enough to hold the turkey, put in the meat, carrot, celery, onion, parsley, bay leaf and just enough water and white wine to cover. Remove the meat and set it aside. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil, then put in the meat and when the water resumes boiling, cover the pot, adjust heat to cook at a gentle, steady simmer, and cook for about an hour. Remove the pot from the heat and allow the meat to cool in its broth.

Make the mayonnaise.

Drain the canned tuna, and put it into a food processor together with the anchovies, olive oil, lemon juice and capers. Process until you obtain a creamy, uniformly blended sauce. Remove the sauce from the processor bowl and fold it gently, but thoroughly, into the mayonnaise. No salt may be required becasue both the anchovies and the capers supply it, but taste to be sure.

When the meat is quite cold, remove from broth, place on a cutting board and cut into uniformly thin slices.

Smear the bottom of a serving platter with some of the tuna sauce. Over it spread a single layer of turkey slices, meeting edge to edge without overlapping. Cover with sauce, then make another layer of meat slices, and cover again with sauce. Repeat the procedure until you have used up all the meat, leaving yourself with enough sauce to blanket the topmost layer.

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. It will keep well for at least a week. Bring to room temperature before serving. When you remove the plastic wrap, use a spatula to even off the top, and garnish with some or all of the suggested garnish ingreadients.

June 07, 2006

Don't just tiptoe throught he roses. Take a bite. I love to put flowers in summer food. They're beautiful raw in salads or as garnishes and good to cook with. Just be sure they're organically grown and not poisonous. For more on edible flowers look at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5455396

May 03, 2006

For the briefest of moments, we can eat spring. Fiddlehead ferns, ramps, dandelion greens and young sweet pea shoots are poking through forest floors and showing up at farmers markets. But they'll be gone soon, so act now. I found fiddleheads last week at Trader Joe's in Washington, DC. It seemed a somewhat unlikely place but there they were. I took them home, boiled until tender and tossed with a light vinaigrette. For more, check out http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5377898

March 29, 2006

Yes, it's rhubarb season again. I was so glad to see it in the market that I made an all-rhubarb dinner the other night -- rhubarb chutney with roast pork, scalloped rhubarb and rhubarb cake. Oh, there was also a green salad (no rhubarb). More on the seasonal vegetable (not fruit) and recipes for the above are at

February 22, 2006

It's Corn Flake's 100th birthday. Dig up your grandmother's or great grandmother's tuna casserole recipe to celebrate. TV chef Daisy Martinez has created some more contemporary dishes using the cereal. For recipes and more on the centennial, go to